There’s the problem of DESIRE — which is a problem of a false god, of delusion

There’s the problem of OVERINDULGENCE — which is a problem of being distracted, ineffective — and all that in vain — as the pleasure is empty.

 

By CEASING DESIRE-pursuits and PLEASURE-PURSUITS and becoming an ASCETIC — you do solve most of the problems arising from the existence of desire and craving and compulsion and obsession and weakness

However you don’t get to the CAUSE of WHY it is that you DESIRE, and why it is that you are so preoccupied with PLEASURE.

 

ASCETICISM is thus just a superficial remedy. It is quite effective, even for a lifetime.

But it only addresses the symptoms of the underlying problems and therefore serves to conceal the problem from you. It is therefore repugnant to the truth.

 

Furthermore maintaining this very ASCETIC ATTITUDE is quite strenuous, quite unnatural.

Life is full of joys but ascetic threads carefully, so as to not wake the sleeping dragon.

You and I are slaves to the false promises of the world — he is liberated — except is he?

When we are distracted by those vain promises — he is distracting himself away from them.

What a waste of energy.

 

You should seek to understand your desires

If they are real and their promise is real — why not pursue them? If they say they make you happy — pursue them and see if they made you happy.

You should seek to understand your desires, where they arise from, what they mean,

Then you will decide if they were vain and empty or not,

If they were worth it,

What they contributed,

What they cost

And then you can decide

 

…if there’s even anything to decide,

Because where there is clarity — there are no more choices, no more decisions — it’s all obvious

If the temptation was truly deeply seen to be a lie — then it loses it’s potency,

Or if it was not a lie — then it must yet be explored, must yet be understood,

The problem is not be an ascetic or not to be,

The problem is WHAT YOU WANT TO DO with this desire, how do you go about understanding it

 

And once that is achieved — being an ascetic or not is meaningless,

You may very well be one — having found no interest in the vain pursuits. You have better pursuits. VANITY is a distraction. PLEASURE is a distraction.

Man call you an ascetic — but are you one? You just don’t care about that vanity,

It’s natural to you, effortless to you, AUTHENTIC to you,

 

So asceticism can very well be an intriguing tool,

It can make you more effective. I recommend you be more effective. Don’t get distracted

But asceticism it is not THE solution,

And the truth about your desire gets buried deeper and deeper underneath,

And it will have to be revealed, in this lifetime or next